Trolling spoon



H. L. CROW TROLLING SPOON Filed March 10 INVENTOR fi a ag A. draw 7 f A v V ATTORNEY Patented July 12, 1932 UNTED STATES PATENT OFFICE HARRY L. GROW, 0F EVERETT, WASHINGTON, ASSIGN'OR 0F ONE-HALF TO EDGAR E.

' CUSHING, 0F. SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 'TBOLLING SPOON Application filed March 10, 1930. Serial No. 434,494.

My invention relates to improvements in trolling spoons of a form commonly used in fishing for game fish, as salmon or trout, and the object of my invention is to provide a spoon, which when it is drawn through the water in trolling, will be caused to roll from side to side through an angle of substantially one hundred eighty degrees and will follow a slightly wave like or sinuous path through the water, the spoon being deflected slightly first to one side and then to the other by its rolling motion and said spoon rolling back and forth first to one side and then to the other side of a horizontal position through substantially one complete half turn and rever'sing the direction of its roll each time it approaches a vertical plane in the water, the said movement being particularly alluring to fish and renderingthe spoon very eflicient in operation and the said movement being accomplished by reason of the distinctive shape of the spoon.

Another object of my invention is to provide a spoon which will always tend to turn with the same side uppermost and which will roll back and forth through substantially a complete half'turn without turning completely over or spinning.

A more specific object of my invention is to provide a trolling spoon of oval shape having its front end bent to form a trough which extends at a substantial angle relative to the general plane of the spoon, and having its body portion, to the rear of said trough shaped like a shallow, concave-convex spoon with the concavity of said spoon on the opposite side from the concavity of said trough,

whereby when the spoon is drawn through the water, in trolling, the pressure of the water in the trough portion will swing the rear end of the spoon to one side, thus allowing an excess water pressure to be exerted against the concave side of the shallow spoon portion. This excess pressure against the concave side will cause the spoon to roll sidewise, in seeking a position which ofiers the least resistance to the water. As soon as the spoon has rolled halfway over or has reversed its position, water pressure against the front trough portion will deflect the rear end of the spoon in the opposite direction and a reverse roll will occur. The concavity of the main spoon body and the weight of the hook hanging from the rear end of the spoon tend to prevent the spoon from turning completely over or from turning with its concave side down. I also find that the provision of a shallow V'shaped trough at the rear end of the spoon helps to prevent the spoon from turning completely over and from tending to troll with the concave side down and further tends to prevent the spoon from spinning at excessive speeds.

Further objects of my invention are to provide a trolling spoon of this nature having a plurality of light reflecting surfaces whereby it will tend to attract the attention of game fish, and to provide a spoon which will have substantially the same action in the water fora wide range of trolling speeds.

Other and more specific objects will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawlng.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a plan view showing a blank of metal from which my spoon is constructed, as said blank may appear after it is stamped out and before it is bent to form the troughs and concavo-convex surfaces, the lines on which certain bends are made being shown dotted.

Fig.2 is a top plan view of a finished spoon.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal mid-section substantially on broken line 33 of Fig. 2.

Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are transverse sections taken substantially on broken lines 4-4:, 5-5, and 66, respectively of Fig. 2.

' Fig. 7 is a plan view of my spoon as it may appear when the shallow trough at the rear end is omitted.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating the action of this spoon in the Water in trolling.

Like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the several views.

In Fig. 1, I show a fiat piece of metal, 10, of generally oval shape, suitable for making my spoon, and on this figure I have indicated by dotted lines 12 the location of the bends or creases which are made in forming the in Fig. 3.

trough like portions at the front end of the spoon by which the novel action of the spoon is obtained and have also indicated by dotted lines 12 the creases or bends by which a certain desirable, though not absolutely essential, shallow, trough like portion at the rear end of the spoon may be formed.

The finished spoon, as shown in Figs. 2 to 8, comprises a medial portion 13 of shallow c0ncavo-convez; cross section, the shape of which is more clearly shown in Fig. 5. At the front end of the spoon is a trough portion, prefcrably of V shaped cross section, Fig. 1, and comprising two substantially plane sections lat and 15 of generally triangular shape which are united with each other along a medial line 16 and are united with the ooncavo-convex portion 13 along two inclined lines 1'? and 18. The lines 16, 17, and 18 all meet at a point 19 in the medial plane of the spoon, which point 19 marks the rear end of what is a trough on one side and a ridge on the other side of the spoon the trough being on the convex side of the spoon body and the ridge being on the concave side of said spoon body, the line 16 forming the bottom of the trough on one side of the spoon and forming the apex of the ridge on the other side of the spoon, and said line 16 diverging upwardly from the general plane of the spoon as shown In practice I find it satisfactory if this line 16 at the bottom of the trough diverges at an angle of approximately forty degrees from the general plane of the spoon. It is not essential that the surfaces 1% and 15 should be absolutely plane, but these surfaces may be curved if desired, and the line 16 may thus be made less sharply defined, T find, however, that plane surfaces are desirable because of superior light reflecting qualities.

The parts just described cooperate to form aspoon of the shape shown in T" '2, which will operate eiiiciently in the manner herein described. In constructing the spoon, I prefer, however, to form a shallow trough in the rear end of the spoon as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 6 and hereinafter described. This trough is formed by providing at the rear end of the spoon shaped portion 13, a portion, preferably of shallow V shaped cross section comprising two substantially plane sections 20 and 21, of generally triangular shape, connected with each other along a medial line 22 and connected with the spoon shaped portion 13 along two angular lines 23 and 24. The lines 22, 23, and 24: meet at a common point 25 mid way between the two sides of the spoon. The plane sections 20 and 21 thus form a shallow trough on one side and a relatively flat ridge on the other side of the spoon, the trough being on the concave side of the spoon body and the ridge being on the convex side. The ridge 22 on the convex side of the spoon and the inclined surfaces 20 and 21 which form said ridge cooperate in offering resistance to the water which tends to prevent the spoon from turning entirely over.

A hook 26 is connected with the rear end of the spoon, and a line 27 is connected, preferably by the usual swivel 28 with the front end of the spoon.

In the use of this spoon, when the spoon is drawn through the water it will roll from side to side and will follow a slightly sinuous path, as best illustrated in Fig. 8, but it will not turn completely over nor spin. Neither will it troll through the water with the concave side down. The rolling action of the spoon in the water is produced by unbalanced pressure of the water against various parts of the spoon and may be described as follows: Then the spoon enters the water it will tend to turn with its convex side down and as soon as it is drawn through the water it will begin to roll from side to side. Assuming that the spoon is moving to the right and is in the left hand vertical position A, shown in Fig. 8, then water pressure against the trough at the front end of the spoon will swing the rear end of the spoon away from the center line BB until there is suflicient pressure against the concave side of the spoon to cause the spoon to roll and tend to present its convex side to this excess pressure. This rolling causes the spoon to pass through the horizontal position indicated at C and roll on over into the vertical position indicated at D, where its rolling movement is arrested and the pressure against the front trough again swings the rear end of the spoon outwardly, away from center line B-B and causes the concave side of the same to again catch the water and produce a reverse roll. These reverse rolls occur in rapid succession and produce a movement which is quick and snappy and very alluring to game fish. These reverse rolls also keep the spoon moving or rolling back and forth through a horizontal plane and this attracts many fish in the water below the spoon which would not be attract-ed by a spoon which tended to troll in a vertical plane as many darting and wabbling spoons do.

The foregoing description and accompanying drawing clearly disclose a preferred embodiment of my invention, but it will be understood that this disclosure is merely illustrative and that such changes in my trolling spoon may be made as are within the scope and spirit of the following claims.

I claim: 7

1. In a trolling spoon, an oval body the central portion of which is of shallow spoon shaped cross section, and a portion of V shaped cross section at the front end of said spoon body forming a trough on the convex side of said body, the wider end of said trough extending entirely to the front end of said body and said trough converging toward the center of said body and terminating before it reaches a point midway between the two ends of said body.

2. In a trolling spoon, an: oval body having a central portion of shallow spoon shaped cross section, a portion of concave cross section at the front end of said body forming a forwardly expanding trough on the convex side of the body, and another portion of shallow concave cross section at the rear end of said body forming a rearwardly expanding trough on the concave side of said body.

3. In a trolling spoon, an oval body having a central portion of shallow spoon shaped cross section, a portion of V shaped cross section at the front end of said body forming a forwardly expanding trough on the convex side of the body, and another portion of shallow V shaped cross section at the rear end of said body forming a rearwardly expanding trough on the concave side of said body, the line of the vertex of said front V shaped section diverging substantially from the general plane of said body.

4. In a trolling spoon, an oval body having a central portion of shallow spoon shaped cross section, a portion of V shaped cross section at the front end of said body forming a forwardly expanding trough on the convex side of the body and another portion of shallow V shaped cross section at the rear end of said body, forming a rearwardly expanding trough on the concave side of said body, the line of the vertex of said front V shaped section diverging at an angle from the general plane of said body and the line of the vertex of said rear V shaped section being substan- 1toiacllly parallel to the general plane of said 5. In a trolling spoon, an oval body, having a medial portion of shallow spoon shaped cross section, a portion of V shaped cross section at the front end of said body forming a forwardly expanding trough on the convex side of the body and another portion of shallow V shaped cross section at the rear end of said body, forming arearwardly expanding trough on the concave side of said body, each of said troughs being formed of two substantially plane sections which intersect at the bottoms of said troughs, the bottom of said rear trough being substantially parallel to the general plane of said spoon and the bottom of said front trough being inclined at an angle of substantially forty degrees to the general plane of the spoon, the bottoms of both troughs being in the perpendicular plane which bisects the spoon.

The foregoing specification signed at Seattle, Washington, this 8th day of February,

HARRY L. CROW. 

